Colin Towns

"I didn't want to sound like Jon Lord and I couldn't stand all that Rick Wakeman crap so I was looking for something other than a Hammond. I settled on a Yamaha organ which I used to put through a rotary cabinet. It was a dual keyboard thing and it looked a bit like a Hammond. I also had an ARP 2600 which I got some interesting sounds out of, although I was terrified to move any knobs or pull any plugs out in case I lost my sounds. And I used a Clavinet, the Fender Rhodes, and a Sequential Pro One. Round the front I had a Yamaha electric piano, the CP70. That was my favourite instrument — it was the electric grand, the big heavy one that was made like a piano with strings in. I had to tune it myself before every gig and I was always breaking strings on it, but it was my absolutely favourite instrument because when I played it I was around the front near the audience and not hidden behind a load of keyboards!"

"I didn't want to sound like Jon Lord and I couldn't stand all that Rick Wakeman crap so I was looking for something other than a Hammond. I settled on a Yamaha organ which I used to put through a rotary cabinet. It was a dual keyboard thing and it looked a bit like a Hammond. I also had an ARP 2600 which I got some interesting sounds out of, although I was terrified to move any knobs or pull any plugs out in case I lost my sounds. And I used a Clavinet, the Fender Rhodes, and a Sequential Pro One. Round the front I had a Yamaha electric piano, the CP70. That was my favourite instrument — it was the electric grand, the big heavy one that was made like a piano with strings in. I had to tune it myself before every gig and I was always breaking strings on it, but it was my absolutely favourite instrument because when I played it I was around the front near the audience and not hidden behind a load of keyboards!"

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

"I didn't want to sound like Jon Lord and I couldn't stand all that Rick Wakeman crap so I was looking for something other than a Hammond. I settled on a Yamaha organ which I used to put through a rotary cabinet. It was a dual keyboard thing and it looked a bit like a Hammond. I also had an ARP 2600 which I got some interesting sounds out of, although I was terrified to move any knobs or pull any plugs out in case I lost my sounds. And I used a Clavinet, the Fender Rhodes, and a Sequential Pro One. Round the front I had a Yamaha electric piano, the CP70. That was my favourite instrument — it was the electric grand, the big heavy one that was made like a piano with strings in. I had to tune it myself before every gig and I was always breaking strings on it, but it was my absolutely favourite instrument because when I played it I was around the front near the audience and not hidden behind a load of keyboards!"

Starting off with a modest setup of a secondhand Soundtracs desk, a Soundtracs 16‑track recorder, a pair of Tannoy Little Red monitors, a Roland echo unit, a cheap Lexicon reverb unit, and a PPG Wave sampling system, Colin began crafting a portfolio of TV commercials. Brands such as Nescafé Gold Blend, Crosse & Blackwell, Budweiser, Harvey's Bristol Cream, Cadbury's Milk Tray, Dulux Paint, Silkience shampoo, Renault, Rover, Vauxhall... they've all received the Towns treatment over the years. Even American companies (General Motors, Dodge Cars, Fendi, Elizabeth Taylor perfume...) were approaching him for music, which came as something of a surprise.

"It was all live, although I did actually put some sampled instruments into a couple of tracks, but everything is played because that's how those albums are made. What was crucial in doing the jazz album approach was a lot of time to mix it and getting the sounds absolutely right. The idea was to make it feel very dynamic and to get an interesting sound on Maria's [singer Maria Pia De Vito] voice. We used loads of different reverb settings from the [TC Electronic] M5000, trying to get exactly the right sound. I didn't want it to sound as if it was a cheap day out."

"I just use loads of CD‑ROMs which I play through the Akai CD3000. I do like the Miroslav Vitous Symphonic Orchestra Samples. The other one I use a lot is Peter Siedlaczek's — that's another orchestral set, and there are actually five CDs of his stuff. The most important thing is that they were recorded in a room with the orchestra sitting where they're supposed to sit — in other words, the basses come out of the right‑hand side. I once had an engineer who didn't know where the orchestra sit and was complaining because it was too right‑heavy — well, that's where they sit, you know!"

"I just use loads of CD‑ROMs which I play through the Akai CD3000. I do like the Miroslav Vitous Symphonic Orchestra Samples. The other one I use a lot is Peter Siedlaczek's — that's another orchestral set, and there are actually five CDs of his stuff. The most important thing is that they were recorded in a room with the orchestra sitting where they're supposed to sit — in other words, the basses come out of the right‑hand side. I once had an engineer who didn't know where the orchestra sit and was complaining because it was too right‑heavy — well, that's where they sit, you know!"

"I also like Peter Siedlaczek's Classical Choir, which I use quite a lot. Oh, I've got loads. Like Heart Of Africa, a set of two CD‑ROMs which were recorded in Africa — the first volume of that is really useful. And I like Hans Zimmer's guitar samples. Also, for pianos I sometimes use The Ultimate Piano Collection, which has Faziolis, Steinways and Bösendorfers — it's the best sampled piano thing I've come across, though it still doesn't work as well as a real piano, which I'll always use if I can. There's also a CD‑ROM called Distorted Reality, which has lots of mad stuff — that's quite fun. I've even got CD‑ROMs of drum machines — I get asked to do all kinds of stuff."

"I also like Peter Siedlaczek's Classical Choir, which I use quite a lot. Oh, I've got loads. Like Heart Of Africa, a set of two CD‑ROMs which were recorded in Africa — the first volume of that is really useful. And I like Hans Zimmer's guitar samples. Also, for pianos I sometimes use The Ultimate Piano Collection, which has Faziolis, Steinways and Bösendorfers — it's the best sampled piano thing I've come across, though it still doesn't work as well as a real piano, which I'll always use if I can. There's also a CD‑ROM called Distorted Reality, which has lots of mad stuff — that's quite fun. I've even got CD‑ROMs of drum machines — I get asked to do all kinds of stuff."

"The Morpheus is alright, but I don't really like electronic noises. I did something recently where I had to come up with stacks of radio tracks — pop stuff — so I used it for that. It probably sounds rude to some people but you can knock up that kind of material in 10 minutes, just using loops and stuff. The Morpheus is quite useful for washy noises for those sort of things."

"I don't use the Prophet 2002 any more, but I think it was good for its time. I used it on a series I did for ITV back in 1987. There was a good soprano sax on it and the string bass was the best one I had at the time. But they wouldn't work now — too dated. It's just there in case I might need it one day."

"The Lexicon PCM70's all right but I don't use that much any more. I mostly use the TC Electronic M5000, which is very good. I'm stuck on 'Large Hall' at the moment!"

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects